Excalibur Management Corp Invests $457,000 in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Excalibur Management Corp bought a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 446 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $457,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. United Bank boosted its position in BlackRock by 1.1% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 1,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,064,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 27.1% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 549 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $521,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in BlackRock by 1,150.0% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 150 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $142,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth $105,000. Finally, Hancock Whitney Corp raised its position in BlackRock by 5.9% during the third quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 467 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $443,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on BLK. Barclays cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $974.69 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business’s 50 day moving average is $981.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $990.51. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market cap of $151.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.21, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $9.66 EPS. Research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

About BlackRock

BlackRock, Inc is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors including corporate, public, union, and industry pension plans, insurance companies, third-party mutual funds, endowments, public institutions, governments, foundations, charities, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, official institutions, and banks.